T-minus 45 days.

St Patrick's Day is not that far away. So here's the red ale, with a bit of a tweak. I'm hoping that the rose will come through but not be overpowering. If it works, I'd like to add rose hips to the recipe, too, since they contribute a bit of color as well as a citrusy tartness. The extra time to sit in the keg should help the rose mellow a bit and blend with the caramel and honey in this.

Batch #54
Irish Rose Ale
--11.75lbs 2-row RAHR
--4oz Honey Malt
--6oz Crystal 40L
--6oz Crystal 120L
--4oz Carafa II (30m mash)
--4oz rose water (15m)
--1/2 tsp gypsum (infusion water)
--2oz Cascade 7.5%AA (60min)
--Whirlfloc (15min)
--WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast, 1L starter
OG: 1.065
FG: 1.015
ABV: 6.5%
IBU: ~40

Mash in all grains except carafa at 154F in ~17qts water. Stir in carafa after 30m. Batch sparge with ~17qts hot water for mash out to 168F. I collected 6.75gal wort.

Bottling and Kegging

My fermenters are empty. The lady's Multibrown is sweet, but will be good in a few months, I suspect. The champagne yeast did about nothing to it, but after some conversation (over beer, of course) with the brew shop guys, between the recipe and the east coast yeast used, this is normal. The red is hoppy, delicious, and in a keg. The Guinness clone is not the right color, but has some of the right flavor notes. Again, hoppier than I wanted (my fault for being a dumb-dumb). Also kegged. St Pat's party in a month, here I come with a nearly complete kegerator.

Fresh out of empty fermenters.

The St Patty's beers are both fermenting away now. I used a Guinness Draught clone recipe that I found for the stout. I made a few changes to work with what was available in terms of ingredients and time. Original here.

Batch #7
"Guinness Draught Clone" Dry Irish Stout
Irish Ale Yeast (White Labs P004)
--4 lbs Ultralight Malt Extract (liquid)
--2 lb Flaked Barley
--14 oz British Roasted Barley
--21 oz soured stout(15min)
--1 oz Santiam 5.8%AA (60min)
--2 oz Kent Goldings 5.5%AA (30min)
--1 Whirlfloc tablet (15min)
OG:
FG: 1.010
ABV: ~3.7%
Calc. IBUs: 52

Flaked barley steeped from cold up to 175F (giving ~20 minutes between 150 and 170), allowed to rest for ~30 minutes as temp fell to 160 and roasted barley was added. Extract and first hop after hot break. Yielded 5 gallons in the fermenter. My hydrometer is still hanging out with the Malty Brown, so no numbers there yet (should be ~1.038 if the "mash" was 75% efficient; and, yes, Guinness is a low OG beer). This recipe ended up being a little on the bitter side, but should be tasty. Guinness is rumored to use ~3% sour wort to get the lactic acid twang, hence the 21 oz sour beer. I only had two days to sour, so it may not do anything. I used a 10oz bottle of my blackberry stout and a bottle of Guinness.